Reading About The Greatest Hero
by missawesome-demigodish
Summary: Does the seven really 'know' Percy? He never really shares his adventures but that's something you're supposed to tell your friends. So to find more about Percy, they are sent back in time to read about his adventures with the gods. They might just learn a thing or two.
1. Th greatest hero of all

"**Reading about the greatest hero"**

It was a normal day at camp. Well, as normal as a demigod's life can be. The giant war had ended three days ago, and everything had been peaceful. Well not for Jason, he was running around, trying to find his girlfriend. He decided to stay at Camp Half-Blood to be closer to Piper. There were also a few other Romans who stayed at the Greek camp, while a few there were Greeks who stayed at his old camp.

He and Percy visited Camp Jupiter every week, just checking on Frank and Hazel. Today, Frank and Hazel were the ones visiting. With Reyna and Octavian - he apologized after the war, and he and seven actually became friends - and now, Jason was finding Piper, her last visit at Camp Jupiter was a month ago and 'She was dying to see Hazel' quoted by Piper. If Piper was late, even by a second on the Roman's arrival, Jason would be dead meat.

He didn't even see the demigod he bumped into. He just slammed into her hard. The demigod was sprawled at the grass, holding her head. The girl had brown hair and was about eight years old. Jason was in a hurry so he hurriedly offered a hand but the girl just swatted it away. Someone chuckled from behind him, he turned and came face to face with Will Solace, the counselor from the Apollo cabin.

"Ellie, this is Jason Grace. He's one of the seven" He introduced her to him. She got up and glared at him.

"Percy Jackson is better" She commented. He didn't want to stop there and chat but comments like this always made him feel jealous. He knows he shouldn't be jealous, Percy was a good guy, one of his closest friends even. He knows Percy was better than him, but people didn't need to rub it.

"What do you mean?" Oh gods, Piper was going to kill him.

"Ellie Rosette here is a new camper. I was just telling her about the seven" I knew when people say seven, they mean about Percy's achievements.

It was okay though, nobody knew much about Percy because he was modest and he would complain that they weren't a big deal. So when he's out, swimming or whatever, Annabeth, Grover, Nico and Thalia take turns in sharing Percy's adventures. It's became a regular activity at camp. And I wasn't that jealous about that, if Percy wouldn't brag about his achievements, they would.

"We ran into Perce and he also bumped into Ellie. He was as in a hurry as you are but he helped her get up. Saying sorry and sorry over and over. He asked if she was hurt and when Ellie said no, he patted her head and took off" The girl nodded.

"Percy Jackson defeated the Minotaur!" She exclaimed, like she was proud of knowing this. And I guess she should be, because Jason's eyes bulged. He didn't know that.

"That was his first monster"** (AN/ I know it isn't his first monster but they just don't know)** Will told Jason. He was smirking and I guess he suspected that Jason didn't know much about Percy. They must've forgotten to mention that at the activity. And that only made him question his friendship with the dude. Jason knew he was humble but this was something you're supposed to be sharing with your friends. They left him there thinking. And maybe he would've stayed there longer if Piper didn't attack him from behind.

"Where were you?!"

….

"So Jason, why exactly where you doing that was more important than our friends?" The other demigods snickered. After they caught up with everything, they decided to hang out at the pavilion. Nico and Thalia were there too.

"What exactly do you know about Percy?" Since Percy wasn't here, just went to get stuff, it was the perfect time. The demigods stopped snickering and looked at him, all serious-like.

"The dude won't tell us about his life, do we even really know him? I mean, were his friends and sharing stories are different from bragging about them" they nodded, even Annabeth.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Nobody answered for a while but they didn't need to because there was brightness and everything blurred.

…

Everything was normal at Olympus. There was fighting and that is how it had always been.

The big three were arguing about something senseless.

Hermes and Apollo were planning a prank or something.

Artemis and Aphrodite were arguing about love.

Demeter was arguing with Hades about Persephone.

Ares was polishing his sword, Hephaestus was building something and Dionisyus was reading his wine magazine. While Hestia was quietly tending the hearth.

Everyone was engrossed in something they didn't notice the bright light until later. When the light died down, thirteen demigods was sprawled on the floor.

"Where are we?" A blonde boy asked. Zeus looked at the other Olympians, thinking that maybe one of them had summoned the demigods.

The demigods looked at the Olympians and groaned. The Gods were shocked to see an unenthusiastic response, they had always been respected.

"Introduce yourselves" Zeus boomed. The demigods looked confused and looked at each other.

"You mean, you don't know us?" A girl with blonde curls asked. We shook our heads.

Just then there was another bright light the room and at the center of the throne room, there were five books with a note attached. Athena stood up and approached the books. She read the note aloud.

_Dear Demigods, Gods and Goddesses_

_These demigods have asked to know about the adventure of a friend of theirs. They are from the future and please don't spoil anything. We believe that you must read about the greatest hero of all time. Maybe you will know how the demigods feel about you. More books will come. No killing the demigods, please._

_From the most awesome gods ever_

_Apollo and Hermes_

"Yes! I'm still awesome in the future!" Apollo exclaimed. The demigods chuckled while Artemis hit him at the head.

"Why do we need to read about my son, Hercules?" Zeus thought aloud **(AN/ As if. Percy is waaay better). **The gods rolled their eyes but the demigods scowled with Lady Artemis. She hated what he did to Zoe.

"Please, as if that jerk can be compared to Percy!" The goth girl shouted. The gods were shocked that the girl had guts to shout at Zeus like that. Others were just please they didn't have to read about Hercules but Zeus was red with anger.

"Who do you think you are, disrespecting my son like that?!" Zeus exclaimed. The girl just smirked and crossed her arms.

"Thalia Grace, your daughter" Zeus stumbled back. He tried remembering a Thalia Grace and something in his mind shocked him.

"But you're a tree!" The gods agreed with Zeus for once. They were just discussing that.

"And the hero were about to read is the reason I'm not" Lady Artemis noticed a silver tiara on her head. A lieutenant. She was happy for a new hunter but what happened to Zoe? Was she smitten with boys? Or did she die fighting?

"Introduce yourselves" Hades said. He was getting impatient with this.

"Like I said. Thalia Grace, and sadly I'm a daughter of Zeus" Thalia grunted. Zeus was shocked that his own daughter hated him.

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena" Athena smiled at her daughter.

"Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades" Everyone looked at Hades.

"You broke the oath?!" Zeus exclaimed. He stood from his throne and pointed his bolt at his brother.

"I was born before the oath" Nico said calmly. Zeus sat back on his throne, grunting.

"Leo Smoking Valdez, son of Hephaestus" Hephaestus already knew that Leo was a fire user. He smiled at his son and Leo smiled in return.

"Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite" Aphrodite looked at her daughter and squealed in delight. _Although she isn't wearing any make up, she doesn't need it anyway since her natural beauty is enough_ Aphrodite thought.

"Clarisse De La Rue, daughter of Ares" Ares smirked at his daughter.

"Travis-"

"And Connor-"

"Stoll, sons of Hermes" They finished. Hermes smiled at the two troublemakers.

"Reyna, daughter of Bellona" The gods looked at each other. Their figures started shifting from Greek to Roman.

"What's are the Romans doing with Greeks?" Athena asked. The other gods nodded curiously.

"You'll find out. Maybe it will explain in the books" He said. Most of the gods groaned.

"I swear, after the first book, I will be tired of hearing that" Apollo commented. Artemis told the demigods to continue. "Can you concentrate on Greek?" The demigods nodded.

"Frank Zhang, son of Ma- Ares. Roman" Ares grinned wickedly. _Zhang. Where had I heard of that before?_

"Hazel Levesque, daughter of Hades. Roman." Hades nodded approvingly.

"Jason Grace, son of Zeus. Roman" Hera huffed. _How can he sire two demigods with the same mortal? Why did I marry him anyway?_

"How about we read these books" Dionysus said, everyone looked at him. "What?! The sooner, the better"

"If you're friends with this hero, why don't you know much about him?" Artemis asked. The demigods shrugged.

"Percy is just too modest for his own good." Annabeth answered. Artemis nodded, that was definitely a first. _A male who doesn't like bragging about his achievements? Maybe not all boys are the same._

"So who would like to start?" Athena asked. Annabeth raised her hand.

"I will, mother."

**I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER**


	2. Vaporizing my pre- algebra teacher

**Reading about the Greatest Hero**

**I know there are so many stories like this but most of theirs are unfinished, which really annoys the chizz out of me. So hopefully, I'll finish this all through-out and the other books. But I guess I'll want to update if people review.**

**Anyway…**

...

Zeus snapped his fingers, and a couch appeared. The half-bloods sat down and Annabeth started reading.

"**I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER"**

"How do you accidentally vaporize someone?" Apollo asked. The demigods shrugged.

"Maybe we would find out if no one interrupts" Artemis said.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Who does?" All the demigods said at the same time. The gods looked uncomfortable,_ Do they really feel that way?_

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

"Oh my Gods! Percy is giving advice! Hit the deck!" Thalia screamed. The gods looked confused but the demigods hid behind the sofa. They came out when they were done laughing.

"You're friends with him right? Why are you so mean to him?" Demeter asked.

"This just the way we say we love him" Thalia answered.

"You have a weird way of showing love" Demeter muttered "If only you ate cereal"

**Close this book right now. Believe what-ever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"That's actually not that bad" Annabeth interrupted herself. The demigods nodded

"But that's not going to work" Jason commented.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. **

"Check" Piper said

**It's scary. **

"Correct" Reyna said

**Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"True" the demigods said together.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

"We envy you too" Nico said.

"Who are you talking to?"

"I don't know, Thals"

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a mat-ter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"Whose they?" Leo asked

"The monsters, duh!" Reyna replied.

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"You didn't" Nico countered.

"Do you know you're talking to a book?"

"…Yes…"

"…"

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

Poseidon looked nervously at the other gods. This was his son and who knows what Zeus will do when he finds out. _Should I tell the other gods? What if Zeus kills him…?_

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in****upstate New York****.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yup" All the demigods said.

Poseidon frowned. _I hope he doesn't get into much trouble._

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"Ha! Even Percy admits it" Travis said. He grinned wickedly at his brother.

"Blackmail time" Connor replied also grinning.

Hermes just smiled at his sons

Nobody noticed the horrified look on Poseidon's face. Well actually, Athena saw it.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it.**

"Miserable?" Poseidon muttered. Athena raised an eyebrow.

**But things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"That sound like fun" Athena said.

"Please, that sounds like torture" Hermes said and most of the boys nodded in agreement.

**I know—it sounds like torture. **

"See. Even Percy agrees with me"

Athena just huffed in reply while everyone else was chuckling.

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

The demigods who knew who Mr. Brunner is, just smiled. Chiron is awesome.

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a****motorized wheelchair****. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman****armor and weapons****, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"He sleeps in class?!" Everyone chose to ignore the wisdom goddess.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"That's funny because Percy and Trouble are like best friends" Frank muttered. Poseidon paled when he heard this and this only made Athena more suspicious.

**Boy, was I wrong.**

"Of course you were"

"You're talking to a book again"

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

Everyone smiled. Most of them just started laughing.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. **

Leo and all the immature boys just fell out of their seats laughing.

**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"What?! We want more" Hermes pleaded. The guys nodded with him.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

"He just jinxed it" Clarisse said.

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"What kind of person eats a peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwhich? Thant's disgusting" Demeter commented.

"Apparently, Nancy Bobofit does"

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

"Grover will totally love that description" Thalia laughed with the other demigods. The gods didn't know who Grover was, but it was still funny, so they were laughing too.

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"And that's what you call, blowing your cover" Leo said in a somewhat official voice.

"We so need to give Grover lessons" Travis whispered to his brother.

"Right after this is over?"

"Of course"

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"Do it! This book needs a little more action"

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

"In your hair?" the love goddess shrieked.

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up,**

"Yes! Pulverize her! Punch her! Do something"

**but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Now why did you do that?!"

"Ares, sweetie, who are you talking to?"

"…at Grover"

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. **

Now, for those who don't know that Mr. Brunner is Chiron, they were thinking their heads off to find out who he is.

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"Longer than that, seaweed brain" Annabeth muttered. She thought of how stupid her boyfriend was, but at least he's cute and loyal.

Aphrodite looked up from painting her nails. She sensed a powerful aura of love. She spotted Annabeth looking dreamily and she smiled to herself. _This reading isn't going to be boring after all. _

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone col-umn with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a****grave marker****, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides.**

**I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of inter-esting,**

Athena nodded her head approvingly. _At least he's trying._

**but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the****evil eye****.**

"Why? He wants to learn" Athena was beginning to like this boy. _Even though he sleeps at his classes, at least he's trying…_

"See Athena, that's what happens when you try to learn."

"Shut up Apollo"

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a****black leather jacket****, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a****nervous breakdown****.**

"Definitely a monster" everyone agreed.

**From her****first day****, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

"What's with the honey thing?" Leo asked. Everyone just shrugged.

Nico looked at his father. They had a silent conversation and both of them think that Mrs. Dodds seem familiar.

**One time, after she'd made me erase****answers****out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real seri-ous, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Is Grover really trying to blow his cover?" Piper whispered to Jason. He only shrugged.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and****I turned****around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"He's going to get in trouble now" Clarisse said.

"When is he not getting in trouble?" Frank asked

"Good point"

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the****pictures****on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this****picture ****represents?"**

"He's dead" Thalia murmured

"Give him some fate. He can be smart when he wants to" Annabeth defended her boyfriend.

"Wants to. Not has to"

"Touché"

Aphrodite looked at the two. She couldn't help smiling when Annabeth defended Percy. _Were they together or does Annabeth have a crush on him?_

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's****Kronos ****eating his kids, right?"**

"Oh my gods. He actually knew something" Nico said in a fake shocked voice.

"The world is ending" Leo continued. The demigods laughed.

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos****was the king god, and—"**

"King god?!"

Annabeth smirked to herself as she read the next line.

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," I corrected myself.**

"Oh."

**"And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um,****Kronosate them, right? But hiswife hid baby Zeus, and gave****Kronos****a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad,****Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

**"—and so there was this****big fight****between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"He just summed up the biggest fight in history" Artemis said.

"That's Percy for you" The demigods said in unison.

**Some snickers from the group.**

"Why? He got it right" Athena asked.

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a****friend****, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why****Kronos****ate his kids.'"**

"I already hate her already" Hazel said. Everyone looked at her, she was so quiet nobody noticed she was there.

"So do I" Franks agreed.

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in****real life****?"**

"Busted" Travis said.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

"I just thought like a goat…"

"What?" Athena asked.

"Uh. What. Nothing" Travis motioned Annabeth to continue before he blew it.

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"The famous Percy answer"

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feedKronos****a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him****disgorge****his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"Yes. After hearing Kronos eat his kids, we would still have an appetite to eat lunch" Apollo said sarcastically.

"You know, this Mr. Brunner sounds familiar" Artemis commented. Athena thought for a moment then looked at the demigods.

"Is it Chiron?" They nodded.

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doo-fuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

"Why?" Apollo asked. He was ignored of course.

**I told Grover to keep going. Then****I turned****toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"Probably did"

**"You must learn the****answer****to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

"Another famous Percy answer!"

"Nico?"

"Yes, Thalia?"

"Shut up"

"Alright"

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"It's for the best" Jason said.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days,**** when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to****the board****and name every****Greek and Roman****per-son who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have****dyslexia****and****attention deficit disorder****and I had never made above a C— in****my life****. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"Why? It's easy." Athena said.

"We have dyslexia" The demigods said.

"And most of us aren't walking dictionaries" Poseidon muttered.

"Why you-" Athena didn't have time to finish since Annabeth started reading.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral. He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on****the front****steps of the****museum****, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was****brewing****, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city.**

"Why are you angry?" Hephaestus asked.

"I don't know. Ask future me"

**I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across****New York**** state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurri-cane blowing in.**

"Now why are you angry?" Hephaestus asked Poseidon

"I don't know. What Zeus said"

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers.**

**Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

"I hope she's not a demigod. I certainly hope she isn't mine. She's already classified as a-"

"Language!" Athena shouted.

"Scumbag" Hermes finished.

**Grover and I sat on****the edge of****the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

"Words of wisdom" Nico said.

"Understandment of the century" Thalia commented.

"Genius is probably not the word to describe you, Perce" Leo added.

"Then what is?" Poseidon asked. He wanted to know what they think of his son. Athena looked at him but said nothing.

"Brave" Jason said. Thinking of his cousin.

Annabeth thought of saying something like "Hot" or "Cute" but thought that the gods wouldn't appreciate that, plus Athena doesn't know they're dating. So she settled for the trait she loves most about him. "Loyal"

"Modest"

"Humble"

"Caring"

"Awesome"

"Hilarious"

"The best sword fighter in 300 years" Poseidon looked proud. The gods didn't noticed, only the demigods plus Athena who already thought Percy is his son.

"Nico, Leo said word. Not words" Thalia argued.

"Yeah. So?"

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Everyone cracked up.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it. I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and****head home****. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Mama's boy" Ares muttered. The demigods glared at him until he looked at them.

"What?" Even Clarrise glared at her own dad.

"Don't you ever call him like that again. Sally is like a mother to us…"Annabeth gave him a really scary glare and he slid down in his throne.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the****handicapped ramp****. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

Leo eyes lit up and he started writing something in a pad that wasn't there before. Hephaestus raised his eyebrows and walked towards Leo. He stood behind him, so he can look from his pad.

Leo looked up to see his dad. The god smiled and went back to his throne.

Leo smiled to himself. _He actually cares…_

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"That…that…"

"Scumbag?" Jason added for his sister. He didn't know if it was a good idea for Thalia to spout curses in front of the gods.

"Yeah. That scumbag will pay."

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"She's beyond my power" Aphrodite said in disgust.

"Percy has a weird way of describing things" Hazel noticed.

"Just wait until he describes us" Annabeth said.

"If he somehow says something mean about-" Thalia didn't get to continue because Annabeth continued reading. She just rolled her eyes and leaned back on her chair.

**I tried to stay cool. The****school counselor****had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"A wave…" Artemis muttered.

**I don't remember touching her, but****the next****thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

The gods leaned forward.

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

"Poseidon!" Zeus bellowed. It was enough evidence that Poseidon also broke the oath. "You have broken our sacred oath." Just for coolness, thunder boomed outside.

"Do you claim Percy as your son?" He thought Poseidon would deny that he is his son but he did the opposite.

"Of course"

"Then I must kill this son of yours before he does something he will regret" Zeus stood from his throne. The demigods stood up too, ready to defend their friend but Poseidon beat them to it.

"Zeus, may I remind you that two of your children are sitting right in front of us" Poseidon said calmly.

"He has a point" Demeter said. Zeus huffed but sat back on his throne. The demigods sat down

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the****museum****gift shop****, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a tri-umphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

Nico's eyes widen, so did Hades.

"The honey thing is annoying" Leo commented. Travis nodded.

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"No! Guessing you punishment is just wrong" Connor yelled.

"That's just going to give her ideas" Travis agreed. Everyone ignored the twins except for Hermes, who just smiled at the two.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"When does Percy ever say the right thing?" Reyna asked. Annabeth looked up from the book.

"He does it when he really really need to" Annabeth replied.

Athena raised her eyebrow. _How does she know much about this seaspawn…? Maybe they're good friends…_

Aphrodite just smiled to herself. She has a hunch.

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death. She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You— will—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," **

"That's really getting annoying"

"We know Leo. You've been saying that a lot of times already" Reyna said to avoid Leo's banter.

**Mrs. Dodds barked at me." Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. **

The demigods shivered.

"It's probably not that bad" Zeus said.

"Listen Lord Zeus, Percy is a really nice person. He loves his family and his friends. But being in the end of that receiving glare is worse than any monster" Leo said. Zeus noted this_, he seems powerful…too powerful…_

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there.**

**She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on. How'd she get there so fast?**

"How slow can you get seaweed brain? We already know he's a monster" Annabeth said. Aphrodite smiled_. Eekk, she even has a nickname for her. He's a son of Poseidon and she's a daughter of Athena. Their parents are rivals…eek! How romantic is that._

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain****falls asleep****or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a****puzzle piece****fell out of the universe and left me staring at****the blank****place behind it. The****school counselor****told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

"Of course…"

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel. I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the****gift shop****.**

"I just wish it's that" Annabeth said.

**But apparently that wasn't the plan. I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the**** Greek and Roman****section.**

**Except for us,****the gallery****was empty.**

"Great. No witnesses." Hazel said.

"We're going to find out he's first monster." Frank said, bouncing up and down on his chair.

"I thought his first monster was the Minotaur?" Jason asked. The gods gapped at them but they weren't done talking.

"No. It's Medusa right?" Leo asked. The gods jaw dropped.

"No. The Minotaur was his second and Medusa is like his third" Annabeth said. If possible, the gods' jaws dropped lower.

"Then what was his first monster?" Frank asked. Annabeth just shrugged.

"You know how Percy is. Whenever Grover is going to tell me, he's just pop out of nowhere, say it was no big deal and drag Grover away…" Annabeth said. The demigods nodded and looked at the gods.

"Yes?" Thalia asked. The gods looked away, but they were thinking how powerful Percy is.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the****Greek gods****. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling. Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs.**

**Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

No one commented since everyone was absorbed in the story.

**She tugged on the cuffs of her****leather jacket****. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my****dorm room****. **

Despite the situation everyone laughed.

"Your son is priceless uncle P" Hermes said between laughs.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me****read the book****.**

"I'm going to make him read that book" Annabeth said.

"How?" Jason asked.

"I'm going to tie him into a chair and make him read it" Annabeth said.

"Or you'll make out with him" Piper whispered so only the demigods heard. Annabeth's face was bright red but the gods didn't notice. Unfortunately, Aphrodite heard and noticed.

_Does she like him?_ Piper looked around, it was as if one of the gods talked to her telepathically. She saw Aphrodite staring at her, so she smiled.

_I can't say._

_Why not?_ Aphrodite pouted.

_Can't spoil anything_. Aphrodite huffed and Piper chuckled. Her mom was fun sometimes.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to****ribbons****.**

"A fury!" Athena exclaimed.

"His first monster was a fury?!" Jason asked in disbelief. No one heard him since they were all concentrated on Poseidon who looked almost like he was going to explode into sea water.

"You…" Poseidon breathed, his glare concentrated on Hades. "Sent…a fury…after my son?!" It took Apollo and Hermes to stop Poseidon from beating Hades up. Hades looked shaken but didn't say anything. He didn't understand why he would send a fury after his nephew.

"Lord Poseidon! It's alright. Percy's fine. This is just the beginning" Annabeth said. Poseidon seemed to relax until he realized what she said.

"Just the beginning?" He squeaked.

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of****the gallery, holding a pen****in his hand****.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

Everyone sucked in their breaths.

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the****ballpoint pen****out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**She snarled, "Die, honey!" And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

Then everyone cheered.

**I was alone. There was a****ballpoint pen****in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

"Oh no. He's going think he's going crazy" Frank muttered.

"Yep" Nico confirmed.

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms **

"Magic mushrooms?" Apollo asked. The demigods shrugged.

**or some-thing. Had I imagined the whole thing? I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her****swim in the****fountain, grumbling to her ugly****friends****. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who the heck is Mrs. Kerr?" Thalia asked.

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

"Oh. The mist"

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

"Grover is a really bad liar" Leo said.

"Truest words" Nico agreed.

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his****red umbrella****, read-ing his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

"Now Chiron. He can Lie" Hermes smiled.

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-****algebra teacher****."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you****feeling**** all right?"**

"And that's the end of the chapter…" Annabeth said. "Who wants to read next?"

"I do?" Leo said. Annabeth handed him the book.

"**THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH"**

….

**Okay anyway… I forgot to include Octavian in the past chapter. Do you think I should include him or not? I post chapters when people review! Thanks.**


	3. The socks of death, part 1

**Reading the Greatest Hero…**

**So, hey, it's me again. I was supposed to update earlier but I went visiting my aunt. Anyway, here's a new chapter and thanks for the reviews! Someone, at the reviews, said the last chapter was a little cliché and I checked it, and I guess it was true. I'll try to make it less that. *Just trying to please every reader **

**P.S. I have another story that is just dying to get checked out.**

_**Line…line…line…line…line…line…**_

Leo was about to start reading when another bright light entered the room. The demigods had to cover their eyes since the light could practically blind someone. It won't affect the gods but it did so with the demigods.

When the light died down, at the center of the room stood a boy with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes, a girl with blonde hair and grey eyes and Chiron.

Everyone looked at the girl then to Annabeth. They had the same hair and eyes. It was as if she was a younger version of Annabeth.

Annabeth examined the girl. She knelt in front of her and the little girl stood confident which proved much she was like Annabeth.

"My name is Annabeth, what's your name?" Annabeth said in a soothing voice. The little girl furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, she looked at the boy who shrugged, obviously confused too, she then looked at Chiron, but he was too deep in thought to notice.

"My name is Annabeth too" the girl said. Everyone looked at her, then at older Annabeth. They didn't know what to think.

Just then, Athena gasped. Everyone looked at her.

"They're probably from the past" she said. They nodded, either in agreement or in fear to correct the wisdom goddess. Everyone started introducing themselves. They already knew some of them, but for the romans and others, not really. Thalia wanted to introduce herself too, just to see their reactions. When Thalia introduced herself, little Annabeth shrieked.

"But you're a tree!" the boy, who everyone assumed was Luke, cried. Little Annabeth nodded curiously. Thalia just smiled at them, well more to little Annabeth since she hates Luke. She still held grudges on him. Even though he became good at the end, he still betrayed her which she can never forgive him for.

"I guess it will mention in the books" she answered simply.

"What books?" Luke asked. Thalia decided to ignore Luke but turned to little Annabeth.

"We're reading about a friend of ours. He's the one who helped me turn back to human" she answered, looking directly at little Annabeth. Everyone noticed Thalia was trying to ignore Luke, even said guy noticed.

"Well, if he helped you and he's your friend, I guess he's my friend too!" little Annabeth exclaimed. The demigods looked at each other before they started laughing. Little Annabeth looked confused, Thalia just patted her on the head.

"Why? Aren't we friends at the future?" she asked older Annabeth. She just smiled at her. Leo smirked before answering her.

"Nothing. You guys are just more than friends" he said, grinning like a maniac. Annabeth punched him on the shoulder, but was a bit red. Little Annabeth still looked confused.

"Like best friends?" she asked. Aphrodite smiled, little Annabeth didn't understand what they were saying but she did. She just needed more proof.

"Yeah, something like that" Jason said, smiling. Little Annabeth smiled and sat down next to older Annabeth on the couch. Chiron stood behind her since he was in centaur form.

Luke was going to sit next to Thalia but when he sat down, she moved and sat at the other end of the couch, the farthest from him. He looked at her curiously, _why is she ignoring me?_

When everything was settled, Leo started reading.

"**THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH"**

"Well isn't that such a wonderful title" Apollo said. They didn't know if he was being sarcastic or just being Apollo, but they didn't ask.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. **

"What happened?" Luke asked. If this guy was someone who brought back his friend back, he had to know about his business.

"He's first monster was a Fury, and he defeated it" Travis said, simply. Luke and little Annabeth started at them in shock, they had the same thought. _He must be really powerful._

Chiron was just smiling.

**For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"The poor guy thought he was going crazy" Thalia laughed.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"I'm surprised they didn't send him to a mental hospital" Nico said. Everyone laughed, thinking of Percy in a mental hospital. Luke and little Annabeth looked at them, Nico had introduced himself as a child of Hades. They didn't understand how everyone accepted him since he did look kind of scary. They were going to ask, but Hades himself beat them to it.

"I don't understand how you can joke around with him. Aren't you afraid of him or something?" he asked. His intentions weren't to be rude, just being curious and the demigods understood.

"It's Percy. He was the first that made me feel like I was part of a real family, and that I wasn't just some emo child of Hades" Nico answered. The ones who didn't know Percy looked at each other. It seemed as if this guy was a good friend and a great leader. Hades considered this for a moment, before looking at Poseidon. He nodded his head which was as good as a thank you. Hades was beginning to like Percy, not just because what he did for Nico, but because he wasn't like any other hero he had known.

The ones who do knew him just smiled, that's Percy for you. Poseidon just smiled proudly.

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

"There's an almost" Artemis noted.

**Almost.**

"I bet it was Grover" Conner replied. Luke and little Annabeth looked up, _Grover was there?_

**But****Grover****couldn't fool me. **

"Ha! I was right" Conner smiled in triumph. Clarisse rolled her eyes.

"We didn't say you were wrong, did we?" She said. Travis smiled and muttered 'Burn' but to be whacked on the head by a certain hunter.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying. Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

"You killed a Fury. Deal with it" Clarisse said, looking somewhere else, like what he did didn't matter. The gods plus little Annabeth and Luke looked at them.

"You make it sound like he eats Furies for dinner" Luke said. The demigods shrugged.

"A fury is like possibly nothing compared to what Percy will face" Annabeth said. They gaped at them except for Ares, who was grinning. Poseidon had a complete different reaction since he looked ready to pass out.

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a****cold sweat****.**

"He has the worst dreams" Annabeth muttered. The demigods who knew nodded in agreement.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my****dorm room****. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. **

"Wow, some gods are angry" Hermes sang and was immediately doused with freezing water and got electrocuted.

**One of the current events we studied in****social studies****class was the unusual number of****small planes****that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year. I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.**

"Why, isn't that something" Athena said. She had hopes for this one, but if he didn't study, she'd assume he's like all of the annoying sea god's children.

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her****friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class. Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot.**

Annabeth and Athena smiled knowingly. Everyone looked at them and was going to ask, but Annabeth motioned Leo to read.

**I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good. **

"Seriously, what does it mean?" Frank asked. Athena looked at Annabeth.

"It means drunkard" Annabeth smiled. Everyone smiled, it was definitely a Percy kind comment.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick. I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"I didn't know Paul plays poker" Nico muttered.

"This was before him. Percy's first stepfather was something he didn't like to talk about" Annabeth replied.

"He doesn't like to talk about anything about him" Thalia said. The demigods excluded Luke, little Annabeth and Chiron, nodded. Although they loved Percy for not being an arrogant jerk, it meant they might not know 70% about him.

Chiron smiled. A modest hero was someone he'd like to meet.

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss****Grover, who'd been a good****friend****, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"I can't believe a man can be this loyal" Artemis thought aloud. The gods looked at her strangely.

"You just complimented a male" Athena said in shock. Percy's friends' reactions were different, it wasn't shock but of pride.

"He is actually the only boy who got your respect" Thalia admitted. The gods' plus the new comers' eyes popped out of their sockets. Artemis even smiled.

"Well, if a male has gotten my respect, I am glad it is a modest and loyal one" she said. "But I do wish to know how he got it. As well, as I want to know why you are my new lieutenant" she continued. Everyone gasped. Well, the ones who didn't know did, especially Luke. _Is that why she's ignoring me?_ Was what he thought.

Thalia just smiled at the moon goddess. She knew Artemis would figure it out, sooner or later.

"I can't tell. Though, I may say that he did get Zoe's respect too, before she died" Thalia said simply. But when she realized she said zoe was going to die, she widen her eyes hoping the goddess didn't notice. But of course, she did notice.

"I want to know what she said" the goddess said after a full five minutes. Thalia knew Artemis wouldn't appreciate it if she didn't tell her.

"after this chapter, milady" Thalia said. Artemis nodded at the idea.

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's **

"Is that me?" Chiron asked. He had used a lot of pseudonyms, and the most popular was Mr. Brunner. The demigods nodded their heads.

**Crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

Chiron smiled. _It seems, the boy likes me._

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

Chiron's smile got wider. Athena shook her head. At least he's still studying.

**I hadn't****forgotten****what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**** The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my****dorm room****. **

Athena narrowed her eyes. That's not a way to treat books.

_**Line…line…line…line…line…line…**_

**Okay, listen. There is something really wrong with my computer which makes writing really really hard. I don't want to post something that's half written, but I really wanted to post something tonight so wait for part two.**

**That sentence itself was frustrating. It's a reason why I have wrong spellings sometimes. Also sometimes, the creativity I'm going to use to write will just vanish because i get frustrated.**

**I'm not saying this because I'm going to quit because of my dam computer. **If you're a true PJO fan, you would have known there was an inside joke in that sentence.

**I'm saying this to warn you people, that it may take a while before my chapters get posted.**

**Um and I wanted to ask you something. Later, Everyone finds out that Annabeth is dating Percy, do you want me to get Luke all jealous and say some things? Tell me what you think.**

**P.S. this very paragraph took me a whole ten minutes to write because of my dam computer.**


	4. The sock of death, part 2

**Reading about the greatest hero…**

**So, what's up? It's me again…I'm sorry I didn't update earlier but, I got grounded and visited my aunt or whatever. Anyway, my computer right now isn't giving me any problems **yet_**.**_

**Oh and I just wanted to say, I got the fourth book of heroes of Olympus, House of Hades and it was just awesome. I got it about last night and finished it a couple of minutes ago which makes me look like a geek…**

**Anyway, I don't want Luke to be the bad guy but he'll say stuff in this chapter. Don't worry, he'll get to talk to Thalia, clear things out and be the good guy.**

**Thanks for the reviews and I hope you like the second part of the last chapter!**

_**Line…line…line…line…line…line…**_

**Words had started swimming off****the page****, circling my head, ****the letters****doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards.**

"Dyslexia" the demigods said in unison.

**There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. **

"At least he knows now" Nico muttered. Every time he was with Charon, he would ask about Percy. He had gotten what he wanted, and Percy had been reason. That's probably the reason why Charon had taking a liking in him.

"How?" Poseidon asked. He looked worried and the caught expression on Nico didn't reassure him. It was as if Nico realized he was saying something that could get Poseidon a heart attack. He didn't answer.

Poseidon scowled under his breath, as the gods groaned. Another thing they won't tell them. How great that is.

**And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it. I paced****the room****, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you,****Percy Jackson****.**

"That's kind of harsh actually" Artemis commented. Everyone looked at the centaur but he seems to have no answer.

**I took a****deep breath****. I picked up the****mythology****book****. I'd never asked a teacher for help before. **

Annabeth looked at the book weirdly.

"Huh." She muttered. "He never asks help from me…" She said, her voice almost sounded jealous. Athena thought for a moment and Aphrodite smiled knowingly. _Getting closer… _she thought giddily and continued adding make up to her face.

**Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

Chiron smiled. It seems that the young demigod looks up to him. _He seems different from the other heroes…I do hope he gets a happy ending..._

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was****three steps****from the****door handle****when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."**

**I froze.**

"Oooh. He's going to eavesdrop…" Hermes grinned. Conner and Travis smiled, if Percy wasn't a son Poseidon, he could pass up as a Hermes child.

They didn't just think that because, he was a troublemaker and an awesome prankster, but having Percy as a brother would be awesome.

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but****I dare you****to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"He has a point actually" Reyna said.

**I inched closer.**

"Yeah! Go Perce! Uncle P, can I adopt your son? He's awesome!" Hermes said. Poseidon arched an eyebrow and shook his head.

Hermes pouted and so did his sons, well with the exception of past Luke, since he barely knew what the dude was like.

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

"Well, then, get cozy cause we're still waiting" Thalia smirked.

The demigods laughed.

**(AN/ My computer is starting to annoy me again, but I guess I'll try to deal with this later. So, I'm sorry for those who adore Luke cause he 'aint getting any praise in this next conversation. If it make you feel better, I guess, he's jealous that Thalia was brought back by some dude he didn't know. And maybe he thinks Percy is the reason, Thalia is ignoring him…)**

"He must be horrible leader, if he's that immature" Luke muttered not to loud, but the demigods heard. They looked at Luke. There was a terrifying look on their face, if it wasn't anger, it was the urge to start ripping Luke apart. That was what Thalia felt.

She stood up and gave Luke the evil eye. At the corner of her eyes, she saw the gods, looking kind of afraid. Except for Ares, who looked excited for a fight, and Poseidon, who looked like he was going to bring a whole tidal wave in the throne room just because of Luke's insult.

The demigods were glowing like crazy, like some kind of Aura of anger. Annabeth had it worst. Thalia was a close second.

Luke whimpered at Thalia's gaze, but he looked up to her. Little Annabeth hid behind the chairs, scared of the demigods who radiated power that was similar to the gods, just because Luke had insulted their friend. But as little Annabeth thought about it, Percy was more than their friend. Just by being around them she could see that and reading about him, she was beginning to admire Percy. He seemed loyal to his friends, and they said he was modest, and the reason why they were there was enough proof for that.

Percy wasn't just their leader, and not just their friend. He was somewhat, like a brother to them. Each one of them had a history with him. He saved each one of them, at least once or more.

Little Annabeth didn't know why Luke had said that. Percy seemed like a great guy, he had brought back her best friend! When they had mentioned that, she couldn't wait to meet Percy, she couldn't wait to be friends with him. And what they said, even best friends. Maybe Luke was jealous that he wasn't the one who brought Thalia back. Maybe that's it.

But Luke didn't apologize for insulting Percy Jackson like he was supposed to. He faced Thalia with a confused look.

"You were just insulting him earlier. How is mine so different?" he asked. The demigods didn't move, Thalia scowled, like she was disgusted that she had to talk to Luke. Something little Annabeth didn't understand, Thalia didn't seem like she changed. Thalia and Annabeth acted like best friends, but why not with Luke? What did he do in the future?

"That was different, Lu- _boy_" She didn't say his name "I was teasing him, and if you say that Percy is a horrible leader, then you must be stupid" She continued. The demigods agreed, nodding their heads.

"He's only the best. Even better than Hercules or the others." Annabeth said, bitterly. The venom in her voice directed at Luke.

"Percy is a great leader. And he doesn't even boast about it, even a little." Leo, who was always smiling or something, said in a sneer.

"Percy is modest and loyal!"

"He's like a brother or father to us!"

"You don't know how much he affected both camps."

"And remember Castellan, he brought me back to life!" Thalia screamed. Luke whimpered.

The demigods looked satisfied. Thalia sat down, the aura around them was slowly fading but they still looked scary. Little Annabeth made a mental note not to insult Percy, but she wasn't planning on anyway. She admired him, and now, after his friends told them about him. She had a new level of respect for the dude.

Little Annabeth sat back on her spot and Leo started to read, as if they hadn't just start yelling at Luke and they just when on a short snack break. Luke kept his face down, and little Annabeth felt guilty. And she was guilty because she wasn't sorry for him. The way Percy was described, he sounded awesome! Why was Luke being mean?

**"But he may not have time. The****summer solstice****dead-line— "**

The tension wasn't gone, but the gods didn't look like they were terrified of their own children anymore.

"What's the summer solstice dead line?" Zeus asked. The demigods shook their heads, as if to say _we can't tell you_ or _we're still angry at the boy over there, do you want us angry at you too?_ The gods weren't too sure, so they decided not to ask. A smart decision.

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

The demigods didn't even comment at that. They didn't even smile or grin or smirk.

**"Sir, he saw her..."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

"Wait." Zeus said, thinking. "Is this the satyr that was supposed to ensure your safety to the camp?" He asked. Thalia's eyes glazed at him and she nodded in a bored way, like, _Dad. I'm alive, isn't that enough? _Zeus wanted to say something, but behind Thalia's bored expression was a warning.

Warning: Say anything about Grover and you're dead.

Zeus just shook his head and hoped that the satyr would protect his nephew, if he failed a second time…

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

**The****mythology****book****dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

No one said anything.

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the****book****and backed down the hall.**

Travis and Conner smiled. Percy really would have been an awesome brother, they thought.

They looked at each other and shook their heads, Percy _was_ their _brother_. Not having the same parent can't stop that, I mean, he hung out with the Stolls like they were brothers. That was already pretty awesome.

**A shadow slid across the****lighted glass****of Brunner's****office door****, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

Hermes smiled. He definitely liked this one. Even when he felt depressed with the fact that Luke, his son, had insulted said demigod, a demigod he favored, said demigod still could make him smile. That was quite confusing, oh well…

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office. I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

The demigods smiled, despite the tension_. Forever_ to Percy was probably a couple of minutes.

Little Annabeth noticed this and smiled too.

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

"Hehe. If he's going to lie again, I'm going to scream" Leo joked. The demigods smiled, the others laughed. The tension was obviously gone, thanks to Grover, the goat who was horrible at lying.

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

"Hmm…I don't believe it" Leo said, dramatically. The demigods laughed again, almost like they hadn't gone nuclear on past Luke.

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed. I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

"He's always in some kind of danger…" Annabeth whispered. Poseidon paled but didn't ask, if he asked, he'd have a heart attack. Can a god have a heart attack? I guess we don't get to find out.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**

"Three hours? Man! That's torture!" Travis yelled. Conner nodded, eyes wide, and everyone shook their heads.

"Wow. I can't believe he hadn't committed suicide or gotten insane, with a test that _long_" Leo said. Again, everyone shook their heads.

**My eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

_Uh oh_. The demigods thought.

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

Everyone widen their eyes and turned to look at Chiron.

"He's going to take that the wrong way…" Reyna said. Chiron looked at the book in a somewhat sad expression.

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me.**

"See…" Reyna muttered.

**Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing****motions****with her lips.**

Everyone frowned, demigods and gods, with the exception of Luke.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair****back and forth****, like he wasn't sure****what to say****.**

"Chiron. You have to work on your pep talks" Hermes said, as if he was already planning on teaching him.

**"This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

"Oh." Artemis said.

"You were his favorite teacher, Chiron" Athena said. Chiron nodded, as if he understood.

**My eyes****stung.**

Ares was about to say _wimp_ but thought about it. Even he was scared of demigods, with a glowing light, that could attack them if he insulted the son of Poseidon.

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of****the class****, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

Chiron felt even more depressed. He was the lad's favorite teacher, a hero who was modest and loyal favored him, and he wasn't exactly doing what a favored teacher should do.

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not****normal****, Percy.**

**That's nothing to be—"**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

No one said anything. They didn't know what to think of that.

**On****the last day****of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were ****juvenile delinquents****, like me, but they were rich****juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

Everyone, when I say everyone that means the demigods and gods with the exception of past Luke, smiled. A _nobody_…right. He wasn't a _nobody_ much less his family.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer**

"Oh nothing much, just saving the world and such" Conner said casually. The demigods smiled, and for a moment, they wished that Percy was here. Not just for the blackmail but they felt this was something they were supposed to share with Percy, something like that.

**And I told them I was going back to the city. What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job****walking dogs****or selling magazine ****subscriptions****, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

"That's not exactly what you did" Clarisse said.** (AN/ I've noticed she doesn't speak much…)**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

"Jerks." Annabeth muttered. She looked like she was going to try to find those guys and start running them through with her dagger.

Little Annabeth understood her future self's connection with the hero. They were best friends, she was sure of it. But there was something else she couldn't understand. **(AN/ Haha. Sorry, I couldn't help myself)**

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same****Greyhound****as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"That doesn't make him sound like a stalker at all" Apollo snorted. The demigods nodded.

"That's Grover. Very subtle" Thalia grinned.

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased.**

"He has great instincts." Artemis noted.

"Is he smart after all?" Athena asked. The demigods regarded the question.

"He's smarter than what people give him credit for" Annabeth said. Athena was obviously satisfied with the answer as she relaxed on her throne.

**But there was nobody to tease him on the****Greyhound. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"That probably gave Grover a heart attack" Leo laughed. A few of the demigods laughed too.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

"Ha. Not much, just the whole conversation" Hermes smirked.

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon ****math teachers****..."**

"Is he seriously trying to lie his way out?" Demeter asked. "Maybe if he ate cereal, he would get better ideas" she continued, and was about to tell them a story about cereal when Hades looked at her.

"Please Demeter, I think I want to finish this story this millennia" he said. The goddess scowled at him but said nothing, Leo thought this was his cue to read.

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar." **

"I haven't heard truer words…" Travis fake sobbed, his brother joining him. As the twin cried about Grover's lying skills, everyone laughed.

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby****business card****. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes**

"Dionysus…" Zeus bellowed. He left the threat hanging, and since Dionysus face was covered by his wine magazine, they didn't know if he heard him or not. The demigods decided it was safe not to say anything.

**But I finally made out something like:**

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800)009-0009**_

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

The gods and demigods furrowed their eyebrows. Even though the gods didn't know much about Percy, what they read about the books was enough to know he wasn't that kind of guy.

Everyone looked shocked, except Luke, who thought they were all wrong and Percy was a _horrible_ guy and Leo, who knew what the next line was.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

They gave a breath they didn't know they were holding. Percy saying something harsh and mean to someone who didn't offend his family and friends, was as crazy as Annabeth not reading a book any other minute. Something like that…

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him. All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. **

"He's really loyal" Artemis remarked. The demigods nodded.

**And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

**"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the****Greyhound****over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver****announced****that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On ****the other side****, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

"Well that was random…" Travis said. Everyone looked at him.

"So was your comment" Thalia said. No one said anything after that.

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-****foot tub****full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in****rocking chairs****in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

Athena raised her eyebrow._ that seems familiar._

**I mean these socks were****the size****of****sweaters****, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

Everyone furrowed their eyebrows and tried to think of who the three ladies could be, but the only answer might be impossible. If he really saw _them_, he should have told them or at least, Grover _should _have.

**All three****women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached****cotton dresses****.**

Annabeth sucked her breath. She was trying to stay calm, but she was smart enough to know what happens when you see _them_.

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

"**The fates!" Athena shouted, which didn't help the demigods' moods. The ones who didn't know, realization began to dawn on their faces.**

Poseidon looked pained. Annabeth had begun sobbing and even Luke looked sorry for the dude.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

No one dared to interrupt. Leo was even having trouble reading it.

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—****gold and silver****, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

And so did everyone in the throne room.

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

"Listen to the satyr…" Artemis whispered. She had grown a liking to Percy, she wouldn't want the only decent man to die that quickly.

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.**

Everyone was silent. Only Annabeth's sobbing was audible.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla. At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment.**

**The bus shuddered, and the engine roared****back to life****. ****The passengers****cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

"Something he wasn't supposed to see" Hades muttered, his eyes closed. If his nephew did die, he would do whatever to assure that he would end up in Elysium. Even somewhere even better.

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

"A very big deal…" Thalia whispered, a tear slid down on her cheek.

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

Zeus almost forgot. If the satyr was the reason his nephew died, he would find proof, tell his daughter and maybe she would let him destroy the satyr. Percy did seem like important to his daughter.

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth." **

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the****bus station****.****Promise me****."**

"I have a feeling he won't keep that promise…" Poseidon said. The demigods shrugged, it was Percy. He was as unpredictable as the sea.

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer. "Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

Everyone looked down sadly. The demigods who knew Percy didn't know what to think. Percy was alive and healthy, why did the fates appear to him?

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

**(AN/ Luke is going to be a little protective here. Well not a little but he's still bummed that Thalia isn't being all Best friends with him. I think I want him to do this, maybe later Thalia and him could talk and Thalia will assume that he likes Annabeth when he doesnt. I think I want to ship Thalia and Luke...)**

The room was silent, until Annabeth broke down into full sobbing mode.

Athena looked warily at her daughter. They had a connection, Annabeth and Percy, she wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

Everyone looked sad, except Luke who was staring at older Annabeth with a confused look on his face.

"I understand that you're sad and depressed, but sobbing over him? I don't get it." He voiced. Thalia looked at him with an irritated expression. A look that said she can't be friendly anymore and she was going to start ripping Luke apart.

"Maybe because Percy is her boyfriend" she was spat. I guess, she was so angry she didn't realize what she said. The ones who didn't know looked at her in shock. Annabeth didn't look up, but she stopped sobbing.

Luke narrowed his eyes.

"An immature son of Poseidon. Really, Annabeth?" Luke asked. His voice somehow sounded protective, but Thalia didn't seem to see that.

It wasn't like he hated Percy Jackson. He seemed like an awesome guy. He didn't even know why he said that, but having Thalia as a tree hurt. Having her alive but ignoring him was even more hurtful.

Everyone looked at Luke. He was insulting Percy, and since almost everyone had grown to liking him, they glared at the demigod. Poseidon was the worst.

"What is your problem?" Thalia asked. The way Thalia had defended Percy, it only made Luke more furious.

"Why are you defending him, Thalia? Why aren't you backing up your best friend?" he asked.

"He's my cousin and one of my bests friends. And remember that you are no longer my best friend or friend, Castellan" she sneered. Luke looked angrier when she said that.

"And why is that, Thalia? Does it have anything to do with that slime bag **(AN/ i could'nt think of any other insult...)** Percy Jackson?" Luke asked, in a somewhat jealous voice. All around them, lightning crackled.

"It had nothing to do with Percy!" she shouted. "That was your fault Luke! Your were the one that betrayed me, hurt me and served-" She was cut off my Annabeth yelling her name.

Luke flashed her a grateful look, and she grunted.

"Don't thank me. If I had my way, I would start ripping you to pieces for insulting him twice. But we can't do that, much less say anything about the future." She said, her gaze directed at Thalia. She wiped her tears and stormed out of the room.

Nobody said anything for a while. They were still processing what they witnessed earlier.

Athena was deep in thought. _The boy is different from the other heroes, I don't know if I approve of this but if the boy makes her happy, then I guess I'll give the him a chance._

Poseidon was angry, but not as furious as the demigods. He didn't know what to think of his son dating an Athena girl. But if his son was happy with the daughter of his rival, then it was okay.

Aphrodite was squealing like crazy. She wondered what Percabeth – she decided to call them that – adventures they were about to read.

Little Annabeth wasn't gagging like an eight year girl should be, when she finds out who her future boyfriend is. In fact, she was smiling. She had admired Percy all throughout the chapter. He was a nice guy, and that was all she cared about.

Then she thought of Luke.

Before they got here, she had a crush on him. Not anymore when he started insulting a guy they didn't know yet but she wondered what happened.

"Um, I think we need a snack break" the queen of the gods said. No one disagreed, everyone started filling out.

All that was left was the moon goddess and her lieutenant.

"Remember what you said earlier? You are supposed to tell me something…"

_**Line…line…line…line…line…line…**_

**Whew. Finally.**

**My annoying computer was getting on my nerves. I started this last night, and when I was about to finish, my parents told me to go to bed. I was like **_**"**__Dam__**. I was going to finish it!**_

**Anyway. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry that I had to make Luke like that. I tried my best to make it look like he was jealous that Thalia was defending Percy than Annabeth dating Percy. Yeah, it's confusing.**

**Also. I noticed, this chapter revolves more on little Annabeth's thoughts… should I just leave it like that or something? Was it a little cliche?**

**The next chapter is where Thalia tells Lady Artemis about how Zoe died.**

**A lot of stuff…**

**Tell me what you think. **


	5. Unexpectedly losing pants, part 1

**Reading about the Greatest Hero…**

**Hello, people of earth.**

**I'm sorry if I haven't updated earlier but I was having a movie marathon with my family. For does who love X-men and The Avengers' leave a review. For does who don't, review anyway. So here's the next chapter, thanks for the reviews by the way, I just love reading them.**

**Anyway, I've decided, I'll write half of the chapters and post the rest the next day or something, because half way to finishing, I'd either get really bored, lose my creativity and such or the computer will malfunction. So sorry if you want the chapter whole and not like this, but if you really do want it like that, you could just tell me. Though this is easier and I get to update faster…**

_**Line…line…line…line…line…**_

Thalia looked at the moon goddess' eyes. Her silver eyes were expectant, and that didn't exactly reassure her.

She took a breath and started telling her the story, when Annabeth had gone missing and that she was kidnapped. Thalia told her that even though Percy wasn't supposed to come, he sneaked out anyway. Percy had saved them a couple of times, and that he held the sky so Artemis could battle Atlas.

"She said that Percy wasn't like Hercules..." Thalia spoke, with a tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Artemis nodded, though she was sad that Zoe would die, at least she had made her peace.

After the snack break, everyone sat in their respective spots. Most of them were ignoring Luke, but he was fine with that. It gave him space to think about what he said.

When they were eating, Jason requested he would read next. So now, he took the book and started reading since no one was really speaking or doing anything.

**3 "GROVER UNEXPECTEDLY LOSES HIS PANTS"**

"The titles get weirder every time…" Apollo smiled. There were a few dry chuckles but everyone seemed to be lost in their own worlds.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the****bus terminal****.**

"Of course." Thalia smirked. It was something Percy would totally do. She didn't understand why Grover didn't realize that.

**I know, I know. It was rude. **

"Well at least he regrets it…" Hestia said quietly. The demigods nodded their heads. Percy would never hurt his friends and families, but if he did, he'd regret it or feel guilty about it.

**But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"**

"That would freak me out too" Frank said. A few of them nodded their heads in agreement.

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, **

Everyone laughed at this.

**So I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**

"He doesn't live there anymore." Annabeth said before the Stolls could even say anything. The twins slumped on the couch and sighed, making everyone snicker.

**A word about my mother, before you meet her. Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world,**

"I wish my children would talk about me like that…" Hera said glaring at her own kids. They just shrugged.

"You don't deserve it…" Hephaestus said, ignoring the queen of the gods' glares.

**Which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**

"That's true. Percy is awesome and he does have the worst luck ever…" Nico said.

"Nico, I don't think he was talking about himself" Reyna pointed out.

"I knew that…"

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when****she was****five, and****she was****raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. **

Athena smiled. I've started taking a liking to a sea spawn, _maybe he takes more after his mother. That's probably the most logical explanation. Maybe I will approve of his relationship with my daughter._

**Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her****senior year****to take care of him. After he died,****she was****left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

The smile on Athena's face was replaced with a frown. "I'll help her get a diploma…" She muttered mostly to herself but her daughter heard her.

"Don't worry mom. She's writing now" Annabeth told her mother. Athena smiled at this, _everyone deserves to get a diploma._

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

Aphrodite cooed.

**I don't have any****memories of****him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures. See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret.**

"You know, she wasn't lying there…" Apollo said.

**Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

"Ha. That was awesome. Nice one Uncle P." Hermes grinned. Poseidon just shook his head though he was thinking of Sally.

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

"That is so true…" Thalia gave Nico a high five for saying something so intelligent.

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. **

Everyone noticed how Poseidon gripped his trident but didn't comment.

**When I was young, I nick-named him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

"Eew!" Aphrodite shrieked. The girls shivered in disgust, even the boys looked sick just by the description of Percy's old step father. They wondered how Percy ever coped to something so gross and disgusting.

**Between the****two of us****, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**

"He better not do anything to him…" Poseidon warned with a low voice. Though he looked scary and murderous, the demigods weren't any better.

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be****home from work****. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

Artemis scowled. The normal obnoxious male was enough, but this was a disgrace. This was why she never thought of guys so highly, though, now there was a male who had gotten her respect, both from the future and now. The same male who is supposed to tolerate a nasty and disgusting pig, if he somehow lay a finger on the boy, who knows what she'll do.

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

"Did he really ask him if he got cash?" Demeter asked in disbelief. The demigods were too frozen in rage, even little Annabeth who thought Percy deserved better.

Luke was silent at the back ground. He didn't hate Percy so he thought Percy deserved better than some excuse for a human being.

**That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

Aphrodite shivered. It was all to much.

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most****of the time****. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting****paychecks****, spending the money on****cigars****that made me nauseous.**

"If he gets sick because of that, so help me I will-"

"Poseidon!" Athena interrupted him. The sea god rolled his eyes and was about to say something when Athena interrupted him again.

"Don't hurt him too much, I have my own plans" Athena smiled. Everyone grinned at this and only wondered what would happen to the monstrous human.

**And on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

The demigods growled.

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

Aphrodite looked like she was going to be sick, though most of them were too.

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

Athena sat up, thinking. Suddenly she raised her eyebrows and looked at Poseidon.

"What?" He asked.

"How did you get such a smart woman?" Poseidon furrowed his eyebrows, _how was this relevant?_

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"Sally. She married Gabe to cover Percy's scent" Athena explained. Everyone nodded, that was possible though that means they can't do anything to him or Percy would be in danger.

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?" **

**Eddie, the super of****the apartment****building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

**"Am I right ? " Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

Just then, Aphrodite passed out. Hephaestus, Hermes and Apollo helped her back up and she slumped on her throne.

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

"You can count on it" Dionysus said behind his magazine. _The guy was giving pokers a bad image, seriously, they weren't that bad._

Everyone looked at the wine god, their eyebrows raised. He was so quiet for most of the time, they didn't even know he was listening.

**"Your****report card****came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." **

"As if that pig even studies" Athena spat. Apollo shook his heads.

"Athena, saying Gabe is a pig is an insult to all the pigs in the world" He said in a kind of serious tone. Everyone cracked up.

**He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff****in the closet****, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and****cigars****and stale beer. I dropped my suitcase****on the bed****. Home sweet home.**

"He's sarcasm is one of his most famous traits" Franks sighed, as if talking from experience.

"Next to his Loyalty and Modesty" Annabeth said.

"Don't forget him being so oblivious" Thalia added, and they all laughed.

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

"He's worse than what I thought" Travis said, pinching his nose, pretending Gabe was in the room. His brother agreed.

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

Everyone sucked their breaths.

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

And exile.

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

The demigods felt a twinge of jealousy in them. Not only did Percy get the nicest god as a parent, but his own mother understood him.

They blocked the thoughts out since if anyone deserved that kind of parents, it was Percy.

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

Everyone smiled. Sally was pretty awesome, that was the truth.

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

"Man, just hearing about that makes me hungry…" Leo said, his mouth watering a little. The immature boys in the room did the same.

"We just ate…" Clarisse said but apparently, the boys were too lost in candy dreamland to hear.

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?**

Everyone smiled.

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her. From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**

And then frowned. If Percy found out that the reason Gabe was in their lives was because of him, he would act all guilty all over again.

**I gritted my teeth.**

So did most of the people who hate smelly, disgusting and gross pigs.

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

"She remarried a teacher, actually" Nico said. The gods raised their eyebrows, at least that jerk wasn't in their lives anymore.

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner.**

Chiron smiled at the mention.

**Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad. Until that trip to the museum ...**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my con-science, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

"He's going to lie…" Annabeth groaned while the others laughed.

**"No, Mom."**

And more laughter…

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

"She would've understood" Hazel said.

"it's Percy, he wouldn't know that" Thalia answered with a grin.

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

"Hey, Annabeth" Leo called. The daughter of Athena turned to him with a confused look.

"What is it Leo?" She asked.

"Have you ever been to Montauk? The beach that seems so important to Percy?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Annabeth's face looked like a strawberries while the others laughed. Even little Annabeth, who didn't look grossed out at all.

"Can you just shut up and let Jason read." She said, motioning Jason to read before something embarrassing happen again.

**"Three nights—same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

"Probablly used it to gamble" Artemis scowled. Most of them scowled with her while little Annabeth just shook her head.

Little Annabeth hated this Gabe guy, he sounded mean and well, smelly. She hoped he didn't do anything to Percy. Hmm, caring for a guy she didn't know…well, she will know him in a few years so whatever.

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

No one said anything, they already knew Gabe was word class- saying this in a non-curse-y way- he's a jerk. Period.

**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

"He probably heard angels singing when he got out of there" Connor commented. Some of them laughed though they were still angry with the smelly dude.

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your step-father is just worried about money. That's all.**

**Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

"Bribery. Sweet, sweet bribery." Hermes sighed. His sons- not including Luke who was still debating whether or not it was a good idea to talk to Thalia and apologize- sighed with him.

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

And after a millennia, the goddess of love woke up, only to look like she wanted to murder Gabe for putting a budget on clothes.

And after a few more decades of strangling Aphrodite so she wouldn't hit the jerk in places that shouldn't be hit, she calmed down after Poseidon promised he would give him a black eye for her.

Sorry, that was exaggeration…

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

"Important!?" Athena screamed. So it took a few more decades to calm her down too.

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

"Do it kid!" Ares shouted. "If you don't, I'll do it for you…"

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

"Why?" Ares asked in disbelief. Apparently, he wasn't listening to what Athena had said earlier. He only listens when action comes in.

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please****go back to it right now."**

"Did I already say, Percy's sarcasm is really awesome?" Leo asked. The demigods nodded, indicating that he did say it was awesome.

"Then I'll say it again. His sarcasm, is so freakin' awesome" He yelled which earned him a slap on the head by a certain daughter of Aphrodite.

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

"He must be even more oblivious than Percy to not notice that" Thalia said. Everyone agreed.

_**Line…line…line…line…line…**_

**You know what I'm craving for right now? Ice cream. A whole lot of Ice cream. And a bunch of reviews telling me what you thought of this chapter, and people checking out my other stories. **

**Just for the randomness of it, what's your favorite ice cream flavor? I love every flavor as long as it's not Cheese. It's gross and disgusting…**

**Yeah…**

**So watch out for part two, you people!**


	6. Some message or something

Important Message...

Hey guys.I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've been busy. No, I'm not quitting. Sorry if you thought I was going to quit and you jumped off a building or something.

I can't update until a week later. Sorry but I'm gonna start studying for this exam entree at this high school. If I don't pass this test, I don't know what will happen.

I'm freaking out.

Huh.

So until, the test. Which is this Monday, I can't update.

Sorry.

Wish me good luck and a little encourment would be nice, since I'm literally freaking out. Cause really, if I don't pass this test, I'll be screwed. My entire future will be messed up...

Uh, yeah. So, umm, okay. Ice creamm for everybody! Bye!


	7. Unexpectedly losing pants, part 2

**Reading about the Greatest Hero…**

**Woohoo! Yipee! Hellloooooo guys!**

**So guess what?! Too late, I passed the test! Ahhh! Oh my gods, if I could do a cartwheel I would totally do it. Unfortunately, I can't so instead, I'm going to tumble all over my bed!**

**So for that. I will celebrate with this new chapter! I'm also going to update all my stories for that too, maybe not right away but be sure to check ****'Not Dead but something else'**** and ****'The Jackson twins.'**

**Anyway, thanks a lot to the people who supported me. All those people should shower in confetti! Woohoo! I'm going to try all the different ice cream flavors you guys commented about. Its gonna be awesome! Ha-ha! Yippee!**

**I'm going crazy. **_**Yay.**_

_**Line…line…line…line…line…**_

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgot-ten to tell me, okay?"**

"Of course she would know" Annabeth muttered. "Just by looking in his eyes, you'd know something's wrong"

"Yeah. Though, it's pretty scary when he's angry" Leo agreed. Everyone who has already met Percy nodded their heads in agreement, for those who haven't, they just shook their heads. It would probably be mentioned in the books, so why bother?

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

"Halleluiah!" The Stolls yelled. They started humming some kind of angel song. Though it was kind of stupid, they were glad Percy and his mom would get away from the smelly dude, so they hummed along.

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

"Yeah, 'cause it's really important" Reyna rolled her eyes.

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

Annabeth made a face. She was glad that Gabe wasn't in Percy's life anymore, though she wanted to know what happened to him. Just to make sure he suffered enough for all the horrible things he did.

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

Poseidon scowled under his breath.

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain.**

The anger vanished and was replaced by confusion.

**As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The ****screen door**** slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair-case as if he'd been shot from a cannon. Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

Everyone raised their eyebrows. _Serves him right abusing Percy, but how did he do that?_

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

"I've always wanted to say that" Travis sighed. Everyone looked at him weirdly, except for Connor, who sighing along him, and Hermes who was smiling at his children.

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

"It's really beautiful there" Annabeth smiled. The demigods laughed, while Athena furrowed her eyebrows. Poseidon simply shrugged, there was a possibility he had given the beach to his son at the future so that means his son could bring anyone there. Poseidon didn't really care as long as his son was happy.

**I loved the place.**

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

"Awww" Aphrodite cooed. Everyone shook their heads.

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

Poseidon smiled. That was probably what he loves most about Sally, she was so captivated by the sea even more than he was.

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on ****blue jelly beans****, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"Yeah. I've been wondering what that was for a long time" Jason remarked.

Almost everyone nodded, even Annabeth, who just thought that he ate blue food for fun. Well, he was Percy after all so that was kind of a logical explanation.

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"Actually, he has a very tiny obedience streak compared to his rebellious streaks." Thalia stated in all serious-like voice. Everyone agreed with her.

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

The demigods from the future smiled. They knew that Sally had already published a lot of books, always had fun when they would go to the Jackson residence and read the books before they got published. The books were actually based on a certain green eyed son of Poseidon.

**Eventually, I got the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. **

Poseidon smiled while the other gods wondered if their children felt this way about them too. They doubt it.

**Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

The demigods smiled with Poseidon.

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

The gods along with little Annabeth and Luke looked at Poseidon. _So that's what he looks like._

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth****time in six years.**

"You're more than that, son" Poseidon whispered. The demigods- who knew him –smiled.

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born." I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

"You visited him!?" Zeus demanded. Poseidon glared at his brother and was about to say something when Thalia interrupted.

"Of course 'cause he actually care about his children than other people I know." Thalia said angrily, giving all the hints that she was indicating Zeus as the _other people she knows_. Zeus opened his mouth to speak to close it immediately.

He urged his roman son to read. Jason glared at Zeus before reading again, which made the god of the skies more uncomfortable.

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me ...**

**I felt angry at my father. **

Poseidon bowed his head down. The demigods exchanged glances.

"He doesn't feel that way anymore, Lord Poseidon" Annabeth told him. The sea god gave her a faint smile but he was still guilty about it.

Zeus wondered what his brother did to make Perseus love him like a child is supposed to feel for a parent.

**Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

Poseidon sighed.

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another ****boarding school****?"**

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?"**

Everyone frowned.

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

The frowns were gone as soon as those words were read.

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

"That's not exactly a bad thing" Jason interrupted himself.

"Percy's anything but normal." Nico joked. The demigods laughed but since the gods- plus little Annabeth and Luke –haven't met him so they settled for a smile.

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

"Monsters." Leo said in a low serious voice.

"Gods" Connor said in the same tone.

"Titans." Travis said before thinking. Poseidon paled and excused himself.

"Way to go, man." Frank said as Clarisse wacked him on the head. Annabeth told Jason to continue, if Poseidon wanted some time, they shouldn't bother him.

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a ****black trench coat**** had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"Maybe Poseidon sent him to look after Percy." Athena said. Everyone looked at the empty throne before resuming.

**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

Nobody mentioned Hercules from the demigods, which surprised the gods but decided they'll have to ask about it later.

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the ****art museum****, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

"He didn't tell her because of that?" Hermes asked.

"He'll do everything to at least spend time with his mom" Annabeth replied. Hermes blinked and looked away.

"I wonder how he spends time with him when he's at camp all year." Luke muttered.

"He's not a year rounder." Thalia said, not looking at her old best friend. Luke looked surprised.

"But he's a son of the big three, right?" Luke asked. Even though she wasn't looking at him, he was secretly glad that at least they were talking.

"That doesn't stop him. He loves his mom and that's that." Thalia replied. Luke was going to say something when Annabeth gave him a look. Kind of a warning.

Talk to her later, not now. Annabeth mouthed.

Luke nodded

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

"Camp half-blood!" The Stolls plus Leo shouted. "The most awesome place in the world!"

The Romans coughed.

"Fine. _One_ of the most awesome place in the world." They said simultaneously.

"Enough for you?" The Romans nodded.

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

"No it doesn't." Nico said.

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

"_One_ of the most awesome summer camps in the world" Leo smiled. Jason gave him a high-five before resuming.

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

"His dreams are the worst." Hazel said. The mood darkened around the half-bloods.

_His dreams were the worst, especially after he and Annabeth fell into…_

The gods dismissed their odd behavior. It seems that they have a lot to ask later.

**It was storming on the beach****, ****and two beautiful ani****mals, a white horse and a golden eagle**

"Poseidon and Zeus." Athena thought aloud.

**-were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. **

"That truly is beautiful." Apollo said wiping fake tears. Artemis notched an arrow at him and the sun god didn't say a word after.

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuck-led somewhere beneath the earth, goading the****animals to fight harder.**

Athena frowned. It sounded like Hades but there were other _possibilities._

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion.**

**I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No!**

**I woke with a start.**

Zeus turned to Poseidon's throne. He was wearing a smug smirk and was supposed to brag that he won or something when he realized that his brother wasn't here. He shook his head.

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, ****eyes wide****, and said, "Hurricane."**

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have for-gotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

"It seems that Zeus and Poseidon are angry." Hades remarked. The gods pondered at the thought.

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

"Monster?" Reyna asked.

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

"Not really." Nico replied.

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

"What do you mean, not exactly Grover? It's either him or not." Frank asked.

"Let's just say, this is his first time seeing a satyr" Annabeth smiled. Frank muttered an "Oh" with the gods.

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?" **

"He was thinking about purple peanuts." Leo said while rummaging through his tool belt. Everyone stared at him.

When he looked up and caught their gazes, he frowned. "What?"

"Nothing…" Piper said.

**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"**

"Language, Grover." Thalia said, pretending to be those mama goats. Little Annabeth giggled, she loves the fact that Thalia never changed.

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**

"Uh. Spit it out already." Reyna smirked.

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my ****rain jacket****, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go ! "**

**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**

Some of them stifled a laugh. The rest either snickered or grinned.

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

Everyone busted down laughing. Even Hades managed a chuckle. They didn't even know what was so funny about it. It just was.

When they finished, Hera ordered a snack break. _Time for answers._

Thalia didn't really want to deal with her dad at the moment, so she raced out to the gardens of Olympus. Though, she didn't notice the blonde demigod racing after her.

_**Line…line…line…line…line…**_

**Hahahaha….**

**Back in sixth grade, my friend and I called ourselves Psychos and we'll be running around the classroom doing crazy stuff. Any of the readers here are Psychos? **

_**I'm proud to be a Psycho.**_

**Oh and Luke and Thalia moment next chapter. What do you think? Any suggestions? **


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